What do kayaks, water, a scavenger hunt and wine have in common?

Kayak, Search For Treasure & Enjoy Wine

They are all activities that are part of the Vino Rows Kayaking Event at the Potomac Point Winery. I have to believe our reality culture has made this event wildly popular. I mean  you are not at just another vino festival. You are paddling while looking for treasure FOLLOWED by wine and cheese at Potomac Point.

Sounds like fun to me

But I see more than that. So many events seem to blend together. This one stands out. It is unique. Granted there are other kayak wine tours. But this attracts a whole new type of wine drinker. This event screams activity. It screams fun. Wine is a mainstream product. And why stop there...

As masses of Americans enjoy wine, why not continue making combinations that make every event or festival unique. In fact I found a list of unusual wine spots you can enjoy that glass of wine. Some of the places I found:

• A haunted bordello
• A castle
• In a panic room
• In trees
• In a teepee

The list goes on. The point I am making is the creative sky is the limit. You can pair your wine experience with any activity and I sure as time goes in the combinations will become more and more elaborate.

http://www.winemag.com/September-2013/The-Ten-Most-Unusual-Spots-to-Sip-Wine/

Upcoming Festivals And Virginia History

A Few Upcoming Wine Festivals
Written By Michael Saks

These two festivals involve two things which are integrated into Virginia's past. One is obviously wine and the other is history. The first is the Lee Hall Mansion Wine Festival which is heavily linked to the civil war past of both the Peninsula and the state. The other is the Peaks of Otter Winery D-Day Festival. I think it is a nice way to remember a sobering American triumph with an event people are going to be a part of. It is a good reason to get out and be reminded of the sacrifices of some many Virginians and Americans.


In fact the Peaks of Otter Winery are strong supporters of the D-Day Memorial. They offer special D-Day dollars which allow you to save money on purchases and earmark a donation to the memorial fund.

It goes even deeper than that. The memorial itself is nearby in Bedford, Virginia. If you do decide to go ask yourself why Bedford was chosen over all the myriad of locations in the country including Washington D.C.

Bedford suffered the largest per capita loss of life on D-Day compared with every other town in the country. It is a sobering thought.

Concert Series At Greenhill Winery

post written by Michael Saks

There is always something to do in summertime if you are a wine lover or just want something to do. If no festival is going on, one of the next best things is a concert series at one of the wineries. Hence The Greenhill Winery & Vineyard of Middleburg, Virginia has a weekly summer concert series from June 6,2014 to August 1, 2014 at 6:00 PM.

 For this Friday the artist will be Two Bass Hit From 6pm to 8pm. Make sure to bring blankets and chairs as this is an outside event.

Greenhill Vineyard in the Blue Ridge Mountains

You also have the very beautiful backfrop of the Blue Ridge Mountain surround the 11 acres of vineyards that make up the winery. The winery boasts of a diverse resume of varieties including:

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Cabernet Franc
• Petit Verdot
• Merlot
• Riesling
• Seyval Blanc
• Petite Sirah

Another idea would be to visit the tasting room which  opens mid day. This might be a good early start to the evening activities

 If you are interested contact Rebekah at 540-687-6968 or email info@greenhillvineyards.com

At The Next Virginia Wine Festival: Find The Spiked Food Truck?

Edgy Food Trucks At Wine Festivals

What Is The Spiked Food Truck And What Does It Have To Do With Wine Festivals?

I am still perseverating on food trucks and their role in our Virginia Wine Festivals. On the one hand they are a quick and simple way to bring food to the wine festivals. On top of that, many of them offer gourmet infused dishes that fit the upper scale reputation of a wine festival. But I still want more..

I am looking for these to be little gourmet restaurants with sleek well designed vehicles to boot. I guess that is a little unrealistic. So I will settle for unique. This brings us to the Spiked Food Truck (company). I saw this food truck company on a sentence concerning Glass House Winery Music Night. It made a point to say that that the Spiked Food Truck would be there.

At first I wondered what made this food truck so special as a bonus to the wine and music. What makes it special is it is unusual, edgy and different. The package of a food truck is not all that exciting but this idea of bringing unusual booze fueled creations to a wine festival seems like a great pairing of the unique. 

Virginia Wine Festival Primer

What To Expect At The Festival

With all this talk about wine festivals I thought a little blurb about what to expect or look at  might be interesting (or amusing). I saw an article actually mentioning that some wineries will run out of wine at the festivals. I am not saying this phenomenon will happen in the Old Dominion but it is interesting to find out why it could happen.

Will The Wine Run Out?

According to the Wine blog Tablas Creek this is by design and is an element of branding. Building scarcity gives the effect that the wine is:

• rare
• extremely popular

And that image is vital when you consider there are twenty or thirty other vineyards serving as comparison markers. I guess I can see the logic. At the very least it forces you to hit certain wineries first when you go to the festivals. Obviously you are fresher at the beginning of the festival. This discernment may give wines sampled early a tactical advantage. You figure as the festivals go on some of the wines may begin to blend with each other in the patrons mind.

Moving On...To Spittoon Or Not To Spittoon

There were some really good tips. From swirling the wine around to aspirate to open up flavor you could see why there is such an air of class surrounding this industry. Until you get to the section on cleansing your palette. Cleansing your palette is a code phrase for spitting out the wine.

This sounds gross and undignified. On the other hand you are not going to be sharp enough to continue judging wines after you have swallowed for a while. So what do you do? I would look at the people with me. If I was with real wine experts I would ask them what they plan to do. If they spit I would not feel as weird.

Now if it is Saturday at the Vintage Wine Festival at Bull Run I might think twice. That is just me. 

Why Not Take A Tour To The Next Virginia Festival

Spring is in full bloom. Everything is green. Why not enhance your next wine festival with the panache of a wine tour group. There are lots of wine tours to consider. In fact, this setting may offer the best way to enjoy a festival.

The Northern VA Wine Tour

The Northern Virginia Wine Tour

Bring on the Nova Wine Tour. The Northern Virginia Wine Tour offers you a convenient way to enjoy the upcoming festivities.

Vintage Virginia Wine Festival

This particular tour is linked to the Vintage Virginia Wine and Food Festival which looks to be a spectacular mix of food, fun, and wine. An added bonus to this festival is there will be top chefs present. One of the biggest questions people have is how to pair wine with food. Well have your questions ready.

Advantages To A Wine Tour That May SEEM trivial but....

I was looking over the list of some of the advantages of taking the tour route to the Vintage Virginia Festival. Yes the souvenir glass is nice but I really like the fact that the bus tour has their own tent which can provide you with

• Water
• shelter

A Safe Trip Back

These may seem unimportant but you do not always know the weather and it says a lot that you have these available. Also there is something to be said about not even having the possibility of driving under the influence. Why risk it. Sober up on the bus ride back and write your super review on Yelp using your iphone (just a suggestion)

 GourmetFood Cuisine Trucks At Vintage Wine   Festival

I know food trucks at a wine festival are nothing new but I also noticed it is listed as a category.

Check Out The Food Trucks

I have seen the phrase food trucks will be there but here it is an official category. In fact if you click the link there are some pretty gourmet food trucks awaiting you including:

•  Red Bone Fusion Caribbean Catering
•  Red Hook Lobster Pound 
•  Scoops2U Artisinal small batch ice cream
•  Tapas Truck
•  Sherri's Crab Cake 
• and more...

 My votes is for a crabcake sandwich with a Viognier.

Virginia Wineappalooza Wine Festival

Most Exciting Name For a Wine Event Or Festival: Wineappalooza

If there was a category for most exciting Virginia wine festival name, Wineappalooza would win hands down.

DuCard Winery is home to Wineappalooza

There are no bad Virginia festivals or bad wine festival names. Regardless I love this millennial generation name for a very traditional thing like wine.

This festival at the Ducard Winery looks like it has a high fun factor. On top of a very low entry point of $10 (if purchased in advance) it offers:

• 2 live bands
• Food from local pork and beef restaurants
• Craft Vendors
• A Ducard Winery logo glass
• No charge for kids, dogs, or designated drivers

Backup..no charge for dogs. That means I can bring my dog? Sign me up. I doubt a wine festival with dogs is very snooty. In fact that alone makes me want to go.

For tickets from Ducard Winery go here


This Wine Event Takes Place:

Saturday, May 17, 2014, 12-7 PM

Ducard Winery
40 Gibson Hollow Lane
Etlan VA 22719